Registering Tables and Cubes

Problem

You want to work with a table or a cube that is not visible in the tree view on the SAS Data Integration Studio desktop.

Solution

To register an object means to save metadata about that object to a SAS Metadata Server. After you register an object, its metadata is displayed in the tree view. You can then work with that object in SAS Data Integration Studio.

The main tasks for registering tables and cubes are as follows:

Tasks

Register Tables or Cubes

Use the methods in the following table to add metadata for tables or cubes in SAS Data Integration Studio.

Note: The Register Table wizard and the New Table wizard use a SAS library to access the tables that you want to register. It is simpler if any required libraries are registered before you run these wizards. See Registering SAS Libraries.

Methods for Registering Tables or Cubes

Objects to be Registered	Method for Specifying Metadata
A set of table metadata in Common Warehouse Metamodel (CWM) format or in a format that is supported by a SAS Metadata Bridge.	Select FileImportMetadata from the menu bar to import the metadata.
A set of table metadata exported from SAS Data Integration Studio as a SAS Package File.	Select an appropriate destination folder in the tree view, and then select FileImportSAS Package from the menu bar to import the metadata.
One or more SAS tables or database management system tables (DBMS) tables that exist in physical storage.	Select FileRegister Tables from the menu bar, select the appropriate format, and then respond to the Register Table wizard. Alternatively, right-click the library that contains the tables to be registered, and then select Register Tables.
A table that is specified in a comma-delimited file or in another external file.	Select FileNewExternal FileDelimited from the menu bar, select the appropriate external file format, and then respond to the external file wizard.
A new table that is created when a SAS Data Integration Studio job is executed. Or, a new table that reuses column metadata from one or more registered tables.	Select NewTable from the menu bar, and then respond to the New Table wizard.
One or more tables that are specified in an XML file.	Select FileRegister Tables from the menu bar, select the XML format, and then respond to the Register Tables wizard. For more information, administrators should see the sections about XML in the chapters about common data sources in the SAS Intelligence Platform: Data Administration Guide.
A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.	Select FileRegister Tables from the menu bar, select the Excel or ODBC format, and then respond to the Register Tables wizard. For more information, administrators should see the sections about ODBC in the chapters about common data sources in the SAS Intelligence Platform: Data Administration Guide.
One or more tables that exist in physical storage and that can be accessed with an Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) driver.	Select FileRegister Tables from the menu bar, select the ODBC format, and then respond to the Register Tables wizard. For more information, administrators should see the sections about ODBC in the chapters about common data sources in the SAS Intelligence Platform: Data Administration Guide.
A table in a format that does not appear in your Register Tables wizard. (Your site might not have licensed all of the formats that are available from SAS.)	Select FileRegister Tables from the menu bar, select the Generic format, and then respond to the Register Table wizard. The Generic format in the Register Tables wizard uses a Generic Library to access tables. A Generic library enables you to manually specify a SAS engine and the options that are associated with that engine. Because it is general by design, a Generic Library offers few hints as to what options should be specified for a particular engine. Accordingly, a Generic Library might be most useful to experienced SAS users. For details about the options for a particular engine, see the SAS documentation for that engine.
A SAS cube.	Select FileNewCube from the menu bar, and then respond to the New Cube wizard.

Preserving Foreign Keys in DBMS Tables

Tables in a database management system often have primary keys, unique keys, and foreign keys. When you register a DBMS table with foreign keys, if you want to preserve the foreign keys, select all of the tables that are referenced by the foreign keys at the same time, in a single pass of the wizard. Similarly, when you export or import a DBMS table with foreign keys, select all of the tables that are referenced by the foreign keys at the same time, in a single pass of the wizard.